


Simple Curiosity

by Rosage



Category: Dragalia Lost (Video Game), Fire Emblem Heroes
Genre: Gen, also featuring Curran, spoilers for Heinwald and Veronica's adventurer stories
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-26
Updated: 2019-08-26
Packaged: 2020-09-26 23:23:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 862
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20397859
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rosage/pseuds/Rosage
Summary: Alone at the Halidom, Veronica meets a strange mage.





	Simple Curiosity

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by Glitteringworlds’ excellent shadow team ideas.

Veronica paces the Halidom halls like a soldier making the rounds. Pressure mounts in her stomach at the oddness. People here don't cower at her; they smile, wave, and go back to whatever they were doing. She considers attacking someone so they _have _to pay attention, but she promised.

She finds herself in the kitchen. Maybe Cleo will offer a snack—she doesn't want one, but it's all she can think to do. However, there’s no crackle of fire or smell of frying onions, just the herbs Cleo hung in the window.

Instead, a stranger sits at the table. If he knows empty nutshells litter it, he doesn't care, as he's tucked inside a large purple tome. Half of his hair is pinned up off the floor, and his robes flow around the bench.

He notices her and adjusts his spectacles. "Oh, hello, little one."

"I'm not little." She pushes back her shoulders like Bruno would. "I'm just Veronica."

"Hello, just Veronica. You may call me just Heinwald." She stares, waiting for him to go back to his book. Instead, he drums his fingers on his knee and scans the room, his gaze falling on the nutshells. "Are you hungry?"

"No."

"Good. I'm all out of nuts, and people tell me I am a terrible cook. I tell them they are boring."

"Everyone is boring." Or they aren't, until they leave her.

"Is that why you wandered, not hungry, into the kitchen?"

She shrugs.

"Yes, I did the same," he says as if she answered. Like they've talked before, he adds, "So, is this world aiding your magical research?"

Her fists ball in her cape. How is she supposed to be _just _Veronica if he already knows about her? "Why do you care?"

"Simple curiosity. Who knows what mysteries another world presents?" He blinks like he's remembering something. "And, ah, it's good to expand your horizons." He shuffles to the side, bunching up his robes. "You may rest your feet, if you would like."

He studies him for signs of aggression and finds none. Still, he doesn't seem like the others here, who act like everyone is a friend. His behavior clicks when she remembers Euden and Luca.

"I don't need a new brother," she blurts.

A poorly pinned lock of hair falls in his face. He brushes it aside. "What a coincidence. I don't need a new sister."

Halfway to taking a step, Veronica freezes. The pressure from before intensifies, adding to the things she doesn't understand. "If you have a sister, then go play with her."

"What an excellent proposal. If your world has uncovered the secret to necromancy, she can join us."

A vision of Hel’s barren landscape, stark despite its distance from this colorful world, makes her jaw clench. "Never mind."

Before she can change her mind, she sits down. She tries to mush nutshells with her thumb.

"If not that, then what sort of secrets does it hold?" he asks. His energy seems to shift into something hungry, something she may have sensed before but can't remember. She edges away.

"Why should I tell you?"

"An exchange of information, perhaps? Would you like to read this book with me first?" That energy recedes, like he presses it close to him. She leans over to study an illustration of a one-eyed fiend.

"Fine."

The book has theories on how to control fiends. It illustrates different types, alongside descriptions of spells that might work, though no complete spells themselves. When asked, he explains there are many reasons one might do this, from causing bloodshed to avoiding it—but, he claims, he's not learning so he can actually do it. She wrinkles her nose.

“What a waste of time,” she says.

Still, even if he talks too much, at least he doesn't talk to her differently than he would anyone else. And she could make fiends do a lot of things for her. She stays long enough to forget the pressure in her stomach and make him get another bowl of nuts.

* * *

For once, Curran isn't looking for Heinwald, but Heinwald finds him in the hall anyway. He might as well have some kind of tracking spell on Curran's shadow.

"Curran. If you do not take care, you may find me filling in for your share of our partnership."

Curran is past expecting a normal greeting. He scans Heinwald for any sign of a mess beyond his hair brushing the carpet. "What did you do?"

Heinwald spreads his arms, his sleeves flapping. "Why so suspicious? I only had a whole conversation with a child who was not scared of me." If he tries to hide his smugness, he does a bad job.

"Seriously? Wait, what did you talk about?"

"The theory behind controlling fiends, especially the less corporeal variety. I was particularly fascinated by the use of otherworld fragments to—"

A headache hatches behind his scarred temple. "_Heinwald_."

"Yes? I was just getting to the good part."

"You know what, I don't have time for this." He rubs his head and heads off in the direction Heinwald came from. He has to make sure that kid knows fiends aren't playmates.


End file.
